Discrete Structures Homework 7

CS2800 Combinatorics + Probability

For all these questions, explain how you got the answer that you got.
1. Rosen Section 6.2: 6, 10, 16 [Clearly explain what the pigeons and holes are in these three problems.]
2. Rosen Section 6.5: 12, 20, 34
3. Rosen Section 7.1: 8, 16, 32
4. Rosen Section 7.2: 8, 16, 24, 26, 32
5. What is a reasonable sample space if youre trying to decide on the likelihood that self-driving cars and
trucks will put almost all cab drivers and truck drivers out of work within the next 10 years? What do you
think might be reasonable probabilities for the elements of your sample space. [Think about what features
might be relevant. There is no right answer here. Were looking for a reasonable sample spacenot
just they are out of work and theyre not out of work, with some explanation of why its reasonable.]
6. In this problem we consider modeling a roll of two dice in two different ways. The optional question shows
that results computed using one model can be interpreted in the other.
Let model 1 be defined as follows: the sample space is the set of possible pairs of dice rolls: S =
{1, . . . , 6} {1, . . . , 6}. Define Pr : 2S R by taking Pr(E) = |E|/36.
(a) Using model 1, give the event E representing the sum of the dice is greater than 9 Compute Pr(E).
(b) Show that (S, Pr) satisfies the three rules defining a valid probability space.
The second model is a bit more difficult to define: the sample space is the set of possible sums of the
dice: S 0 = {2, 3, . . . , 12}. To define the probability function, we first let ni = n14i = i 1 for 2 i 7
0 S0
(so that nP2 = n12 = 1, n3 = n11 = 2, n4 = n10 = 3, and so on). Define Pr : 2 R by taking
0
Pr (E) = iE ni /36.
(c) Using model 2, give the event E 0 representing the sum of the dice is greater than 9. Compute
Pr0 (E 0 ).
(d) Show that (S 0 , Pr0 ) satisfies the three rules defining a probability space.
0
(e) (Optional, good if youd like a challenge working with sets and functions) Give a function f : 2S
2S with the property that for all E 0 S 0 , Pr(f (E 0 )) = Pr0 (E 0 ). This shows that any event in S 0 can
be interpreted (using f ) as an event in S having the same probability. Hint: if E and E 0 are the sets
defined in (a) and (c), then f (E 0 ) should be E.